Saturday, November 27, 2010

Unexpected visitor: the cow found itself in housewife Caroline Lowbridge's back garden after making a bid for freedom

A Nottinghamshire housewife has been left stunned after a runaway cow being chased by the police crashed into her back garden.

Caroline Lowbridge couldn't believe her eyes when the enormous animal came crashing through her garden fence - with a team of police officers and an angry farmer in hot pursuit.

The pedigree cow made a break for freedom as farmer John Croft tried to load it into a trailer - and leaped over a 9,000 volt fence before galloping off down the A52, in Nottingham.

Officers tailed the animal for almost two miles before finally entering into a police stand-off with the cow in Caroline's garden.

Caroline, from West Bridgeford, Notts, said: 'I was in my kitchen when I spotted this thing crashing through my garden fence.

'It came right up to the kitchen window and was breathing on the glass. I was scared as I thought it was going to smash its way into the house - you could tell it was really angry,' she added.

'The police tried to block it off by parking a police van across my neighbour's garden. But the cow smashed into the van and ploughed its way through the fence into another garden.

We are not a-moo-sed: police tried to corner the cow which was described as 'really annoyed'

'It was really annoyed.' Police had nearly managed to grab hold of the cow when it charged at the police line, scattering officers.

It took more than an hour for then to eventually coax the cow onto a trailer and return it to the farm, two hours after it originally escaped.

Farmer John said: 'We were getting about 50 pedigree cows off the field and into the cowshed for winter. 'This one just made a bid for freedom. It cleared the fence and legged it down the road.

'I was in a state of panic. I wasn't able to follow it as it just sped off like lightning down the public footpath. 'I jumped into the car but we lost it pretty quickly - but luckily the police called to say they had spotted it and were on its tail.

Bovine bother: the cow was eventually caught and returned to the farm two hours after it escaped

'I raced straight there with the trailer, and eventually, it gave up and decided to come home.

'It's doing good now," he said. 'We took it back to the stables and it calmed down over some water and food.

'We've never had this happen before and will be taking extra precautions now to make sure it doesn't happen again.'

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Police said: 'Officers tried to corner the cow but it charged at them, causing one to take evasive action to avoid injury.

'The cow smashed through fences at the rear of three properties, before eventually being cornered.' PC Wendy Brown, one of the officers who caught the cow, said: 'This was definitely one of the strangest incidents I've had to deal with.'